


Just Like the Movies

by Naniiamo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Breakup Fic, M/M, atsumu can't communicate, marine biologist daichi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26984515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naniiamo/pseuds/Naniiamo
Summary: Atsumu thought he’d be able to see it coming if anything were going wrong.
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Sawamura Daichi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Just Like the Movies

**Author's Note:**

> The only natural thing to do when you fall head over heels for an extremely rare pair, is to write angst for them, right?

When Atsumu thought about breakups, he had a pretty clear image in his head of what it would be like. 

Slamming doors

Heated arguments

Glares from across the room

Sharp words thrown across the dinner table

That’s how breakups had always appeared in the movies. That’s how he watched his parents' marriage fall apart. One venomous move at a time. 

So Atsumu thought he’d be able to see it coming if anything were going wrong.

He still stayed over at Daichi’s apartment regularly, still woke up at the crack of dawn for practice with his lover still sleeping soundly by his side.

He still came over, and Daichi still cooked. Daichi still smiled at him as he talked about practice, transfixed with whatever it was he was going on about. 

It was always volleyball. His team, the teams he played against, the extra practices he was going to put in. 

If he wanted to make it to the Olympics after all, he was going to have to put in the work, he’d need to put in so much more effort to finally achieve his dreams. The love for his career was so clear in his voice, nothing else made him sound so childlike.

Would Atsumu have noticed, if he looked a little harder, the cloud that inched over Daichi’s face every time he brought up switching teams, moving somewhere else, bringing Daichi along with him? 

\---

Atsumu loved Daichi. 

Atsumu loved Daichi almost as much as he loved Volleyball. 

Maybe that was the first problem. 

Atsumu hungered for volleyball more than anything, an inconceivable need to do better, be better, get stronger. All the frustration and learning curves worth it the moment he pulled off a difficult move in a game to the cheers of his fans and teammates. To the man sitting in the stands who always looked down at him with the biggest smile on his face.

Atsumu hungered for Daichi in a similar way. Always forthcoming about his dreams and plans for their future. It wasn’t anything Atsumu ever thought he’d care about, let alone be so passionate about. They hadn’t been dating long, but Atsumu couldn’t imagine a life moving forward where Daichi wasn’t by his side the whole time. 

He was so vocal, never once thinking about how Daichi may have felt about it, even when Atsumu managed to drag him along to meet his family only months into their relationship. Atsumu’s inadvertent selfishness not letting him see anything past his own desire. 

Atsumu’s hunger was overwhelming, all consuming. His schoolmates couldn’t handle it, and he pushed them away because of it. But surely Daichi was different.

Right?

  
  
  
  


...Right?

  
  
  
  


Atsumu came back from practice, just like any other day. Adrenaline still pumping through his veins from the race with Sakusa that he’d gotten himself into. Well, Atsumu was racing him, Sakusa was ignoring him. 

The story was on the tip of his tongue when he walked into the living room, but the words died as soon as he saw Daichi sitting on the couch. 

He was curled over himself, his head held in his hands.

Atsumu’s stomach sank to the soles of shoes. A lead weight that kept him from moving from the doorway, confused and scared as to what exactly was going on.

“Dai…?” Daichi’s head didn’t move, but his back swelled as he heard him take a sharp inhale. Atsumu’s knuckles grew white as they gripped tighter and tighter onto the strap of his bag. His head grew light as his brain raced to figure out what was happening right now. 

There were no harsh words.

“Atsumu… I need to talk to you.” 

  
  
No arguments bleeding late into the night.

“Daichi, what’s going on?” 

There was no anger. No slamming of doors.

“I just…” 

Atsumu wished there was.

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”

If there was one thing he had hoped to be wrong about, it was just how much those words always seemed to hurt.

It was so much worse than he could have imagined. 

Confused words stumbled to Atsumu’s lips, unable to string the sentences together to express the mess he was feeling right then. The only word that managed to escape coherently was a quiet, pained, “Why?”

Daichi scrubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes before finally turning his gaze over to Atsumu. The warm brown eyes Atsumu loved waking up to were red and bloodshot and swollen from what he could tell were hours of crying. So badly did Atsumu want to rush over and hold him, wipe those tears away and tell him everything would be okay.

His heart was still pinning him to the ground. He couldn’t move even if he wanted to. 

“You’re just.” Daichi swallowed the lump in his throat. “You move so  _ fast  _ Atsumu… I feel like I can’t catch up. And you never seem to want to slow down for me.” The words were weak, choked out as if every word threatened to break the dam of tears Atsumu could see well up in his eyes. 

Atsumu’s own eyes stung in response.

“Dai, I’m sorry, I didn’t know-”

  
  
“And that’s the thing Atsumu… I love listening to you, I really do, but when was the last time you checked up on me?” Daichi’s voice cracked. “I have school, I have a career, I have my own dreams that...that don’t revolve around you.

“Our relationship is so young and, and I’ve already met your family. I don’t think I was ready, but, I couldn’t say no, you were so excited, and Atsumu…. I do love you-” A sob broke through Daichi’s resolve. “I love you so much, which is why I can’t be the one that holds you back.” 

The words stung- No, that was too light of a word. It was like Daichi had brandished a knife and sunk it right between his ribs, right into his heart. Then pulled it out, just to push it back in again. 

And again. 

And again. 

And all Atsumu could do was stand there and take it. 

“You’re not holding me back! We can figure this out Daichi, there has to be something.” The words sounded desperate, and whether Atsumu really was or not, he hated hearing the tone come out of his own mouth.

Daichi’s mouth turned into the saddest smile Atsumu had ever seen, and he simply shook his head.

“I’ve tried to think about it… How to make it work, and I can’t Atsumu, I just can’t.” Tears were running freely down Daichi’s face now, no longer having the strength to hold them back. “What I need to do right now is focus on school, get my degree. I’m not ready to settle down like you want me to.”

  
  
Was that what Atsumu wanted?

He had never given it much thought. The steps he was taking only seemed like the ones he was supposed to take, and nothing ever felt wrong about it. 

So he did what he did best.

He painted a smile on his face, and just nodded. 

  
  
“Okay. You’ve clearly made your decision.” The lead finally lessened from his feet, and he moved to Daichi’s bedroom, gathering up the few things he’d left there and stuffing them into his bag, biting on his tongue to keep the tears at bay. 

He returned to the living room, Daichi still staring at the spot Atsumu had just stood. 

“It was nice knowing you Sawamura. You’re gonna do great out there.” He cracked another smile, the way it pained Daichi clear in his eyes. “Maybe you’ll even own your own aquarium one day. Maybe I’ll visit you then, when I’m a hot shot Olympian.” Atsumu choked out a laugh.

His hand gripped the doorknob, and he froze. He should have walked right out, but he knew, he knew if he walked out now, it would be the last time he saw Daichi. 

He shouldn't have, but he couldn’t not.

He looked behind him one more time, to see Daichi’s face far more broken than before. The image of how his words had hurt burning itself into his brain, and he knew right then that this wasn’t something he was going to forget. 

“I’ll always love you Dai.”

There was no response. 

The sound of the door closing behind him echoed through his ears. 

It was the loudest thing he’d ever heard. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I love this pair so much, and have so much more planned for them!! I just needed to get some angst out of my system.
> 
> Feel free to come and scream at me about AtsuDai over on [twitter!!](https://twitter.com/Flakeandbake1)


End file.
